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Videos and “educational” programs abound that claim to “teach reading skills” to toddlers and preschoolers. But beyond all the hype and the high price tags, what is your child really getting? Rather than learning only letter recognition, which is what most of these programs teach, preschoolers should be spending their time in emergent literacy activities.
These activities prime children’s brains for their future experiences with print. Decoding skills are important, but they need to learn about people, things, and stories first.
Being able to sound out the letters is nice, but unless they have the background knowledge needed to know what to do with what they’ve interpreted, they’re left with an isolated skill that may look an awful lot like reading but is not reading.
Here is a list of suggestions, from preschool to high school, for engaging (and continuing to engage) your child in reading the printed word.
Ways to engage your child in reading the printed word
Love the language
Read stories, make-up stories, practice nursery rhymes, and sing songs. These activities are fun and expose your child to language patterns and story structure.
They also enhance listening skills
Help your child make up his own stories, or take turns adding parts to a story you make up together. Let him dictate his stories to you, so he can see them in written form.
Talk, talk, and more talk
Verbal language goes hand in hand with literacy. Introduce your child to new words and concepts, and make the most of opportunities to stretch his understanding. Build on what he already knows by making connections. When reading a favourite story about a bear, begin to talk to him about what a bear eats. The next time, talk about bears’ sleeping patterns. Building a strong store of background knowledge helps with comprehension, keeps kids interested in concepts, and sparks their curiosity.
Properties of the printed page
Before we can make meaning out of words, we have to know a lot about how the whole package works together. We read from left to right. We turn pages from right to left. What way do we hold the book? What’s the front, what’s the back?
What are those squiggly lines with white space around them? How come a bunch of them are bunched together like that? What are chapters? It’s important to remember that to them, seeing English words printed on a page is similar to our trying to comprehend a page printed in a language we don’t speak. Lots of interaction with print helps kids learn the rules we take for granted.
Working with letters
Magnetic letters on the refrigerator or foam letters in the tub give small children tactile experience with language and a chance to manipulate letters. Asking children to recreate a short series of letters helps them learn discrimination and directionality—practice tracing letters in sand, on someone’s back, or a steamy window.
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